Cache thrashing is a hardware issue in graphics processors, which is one of the strongest reasons for limiting the number of textures in a given area. It is continually being alleviated by improved graphics card memory sizes, but it is doubtful it will go away entirely for the foreseeable future.

Cache thrashing occurs when the virtual environment uses more textures in visible range than the user?s hardware can hold in graphics memory all at once. When this happens, typically, the API dumps them all out each frame and loads from scratch again. This constant memory swapping results in a slow down and judder effect as some frames are rendered noticeably faster than others, even when the content does not change. This creates a choppy experience and annoys users as it disrupts from both the immersion and the interaction.

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(16/03/2007)Central processing units, at the heart of the PCs our worlds run on, and our peripherals interface to, are getting swifter all the time. Higher clock speeds, more cores for parallel processing, larger on-chip cache, more and more logic circ...

(01/11/2004)The processor, an upgraded member of the Madison line, boosts high-speed cache memory from 6MB to 9MB, providing a massive boost in perceived speed. The release is expected to be timed perfectly with November's release of the Top500 list o...

(25/08/2008)Now computer scientists in Pakistan are building a system to boost download speeds in the developing world by letting people effectively share their bandwidth. Software chops up popular pages and media files, allowing users to grab them fro...

(05/11/2003)Intel Corporation have started shipping a new, hyper-performance processor for gamers, and high-end simulation machines.
Featuring clock speeds of 3.2Ghz, and more than two MB of cache, this hyper-threading processor will allow desktop p...